Fetch
by idreamofjily
Summary: Every year the Marauders play a massive game of Fetch. The object of the game: hide a with reluctant Lily Evans for as long as possible. Starts at the end of sixth year through to seventh. Light, but ratings for language and more serious themes as the story goes on through wizarding war. James/Lily Sirius/Marlene Frank/Alice
1. Chapter 1

On Friday the ninth of April, Lily Evans fell asleep with her shoes besides the bed. It wasn't because she was planning on a midnight stroll through the dark halls of Hogwarts, but rather because she knew that at some point throughout the next two weeks of the Easter holidays, she would be unceremoniously dragged out of the comfort of her bed. The reason for this came in the form of four over-excited boys who enjoyed tormenting her. So Lily wasn't overly surprised when she woke up early Sunday morning to see James Potter hovering over her bed, sporting terribly messy bed hair and a tired grin.

'Potter?' She asked thickly as she blearily peered up at the enthusiastic boy on the broom above her. She found she was too tired to be self-conscious of her own bedhead, especially since James was unconcerned with his. 'What are you—oh! Is it time?'

'You know it Evans,' James whispered back, reminding her of her roommates sleeping in the other beds. 'Now hurry up and get that perky little ass downstairs so we can get this over with and go back to sleep.'

Lily tiredly flipped him off before sitting up to slip on her shoes and grabbed her oversized jumper off the end of her bed. When she was ready Potter gestured for her to lead the way and she walked down the stair with James flying silently behind her. Entering the common room she saw the three other boys squished onto the couch in front of the fire, facing a single armchair.

'Well lads,' said James flying over to them, 'the guest of honour is here, so I say we get started with. The sooner we get it over with, the sooner I can go back to bed.' He smoothly dismounted the broom and jumped onto the small couch, wedging himself between Remus and a very uncomfortable looking Peter who was pushed up against the side of the couch.

'Yes Lilykins, come, sit and get excited,' said Sirius, enthusiastically gesturing to the chair opposite them. Out of all the boys, he seemed the most awake, grinning at Lily like a madman. She rolled her eyes and sat in the chair, feeling completely unimpressed with the three am wake up call.

'Right,' started Sirius, 'as you know Lily, we are gathered here to organise the annual game of Fetch. Remus the paper please.'

'I don't have it.'

'What do you mean you don't have it? I told you to bring it down.'

'Yes and I thought I did, but as you can see, _it's not here.'_

'Well where is it?'

'I don't know.'

'Well-'

'If you two are quite done bickering like an old married couple, then you might want to check under your asses, I think I can see some paper underneath Peter,' said Lily exasperated with the knobs sitting across from her. Peter blushed and jumped up quickly, jostling James who had been sleeping on Remus' shoulder. Muttering an apology, Peter quickly grabbed the parchment that had been shoved down the side of the couch and handed it to Sirius.

'Oh,' said Sirius. 'There it is.'

'Yes, sounds like someone owes me an ap-'

'Okay!' said Lily, interrupting the impending argument. 'Can we get on with this? I'd like to get some sleep in the next century.'

'I second Evans' statement; hurry the fuck up,' said James sleepily as he slouched on the couch with his head in his hands. Lily glared at James yet didn't comment on his filthy mouth.

Sirius cleared his throat and unscrolled the parchment. 'Right. So yeah, we're here to plan Fetch. As stated in the contract "Fetch is a game whereby the objective of the four players is to have possession of the baton for the longest amount of time. Only one player is able to possess said baton at any time. The game must be played within the Easter holidays, and the beginning of said game, as well as the running time, is monitored by a game keeper and is unknown to the players. Players are awarded sixty points for every hour spent with the baton, and one hundred and fifty points if they are in possession of the baton when the game ends. Essentially it is a game of hide and seek, whereby whoever hides with the baton the longest, wins." And that my lads and lady, is Fetch,' he ended with a dramatic flourish.

There was a pregnant pause before Remus sat forward, knocking James' arm, whose head once again fell and woke him up. 'Sirius,' started Remus. 'You do realise that we've played this game for four years right? Don't you think we already know the rules?'

'Well yes but-'

'Also could we please stop referring to me as the baton?' Interrupted Lily.

'But that's what you are!'

'It makes me sound like an inanimate object.'

'Well if the shoe fits.'

'Guys!' Growled James. 'I'm not sure if you're doing this just because you want to torture me, but I would really like to get some sleep tonight, so if you could shut your cakeholes and get on with it, that would be fantastic.'

'Well someone isn't a morning person,' grumbled Lily.

'That's because it's three-fucking-thirty in the morning and _someone_ won't let us do this in the boys dormitory,' bit back James.

'Well excuse me for not wanting to spend time in that filth-ridden-'

'Guys!' Remus shouted, suddenly on his feet. 'Arguing is not going to get this over with any faster. James, we get that you're tired, we all are. Suck it up. Lily, stop complaining. Like James said, the sooner we get this done the better.' Having said his bit, Remus sat back down, ignoring the glares that he was receiving from James and Lily.

'I don't see why we have to do this in the first place,' piped up Peter.

'Because it's tradition Pete, we've done it like this every year,' replied Sirius, who was not at all impressed with the lack of enthusiasm.

'Every year except the first one, when you ambushed me,' said Lily.

'Oh right, I forgot about that one.'

'Lucky you,' replied Lily coolly as she remembered how she'd been unwillingly dragged around the castle in her second year.

'Right, ah well, moving on. Pete do you want to give us the tally?' Sirius asked, avoiding Lily's stink eye and handing the worn scroll to Peter.

'Oh yeah, sure. Just… hang on,' he nervously fiddled with the parchment. 'Oh right, there it is. Okay, the tally stands as; myself with zero games-'

'Good effort there Wormy,' mumbled James.

'Oh piss off Prongs. So I'm on zero, Remus and James, you both have one game each. And our current leader is Sirius, with two games.'

'Whoop whoop! Damn right bitches, Sirius Black is smoking your arses!' Lily watched in amusement as Sirius jumped up and started enthusiastically waving his bum in front of his unfortunate friends.

'Oh sod off Padfoot,' said Remus with a laugh before shoving him back on the couch. 'It's only by one game, and I'm pretty sure you cheated last year.'

'I did not! There was no rule that said I wasn't allowed to hide in the room of requirement.'

'That's because we didn't know the room existed until then.'

'Oh hush, you're just mad because you didn't think of it yourself.'

'Speaking of rules, we've got to read out the new ones. Moony, wanna take it away?' Asked Peter, handing the scroll to Remus.

'Alright. Just the usual rules; no intentionally seriously hurting or maiming anyone, including the baton and other students. No leaving school grounds, no conspiring with one another to win, no damaging the school and no bribing the game keeper to reveal information about the time frame. Lily must be kept comfortable; pretty much if she needs something, you get it for her. Every other rule pretty much falls under all that. If you want to know more, look at the parchment yourself. Right! New rules; no going into the room of requirement, no dressing up house elves – no matter how willing they are – and no hiding in Dumbledore's office, and that goes for you too Sirius.'

'Please, like I'll do that again, I had to clean Myrtle's toilets without magic for detention!'

'Serves you right. Now, Lily, before you go any further, we need you to solemnly swear that any marauder secrets you currently know and may find out will be kept secret.'

'Seriously? I do this every year, and I've never told a soul about the map, the cloak or your furry little problem Remus,' huffed Lily, slightly offended that they still didn't trust her, despite her willingly going along with the whole ridiculous game every year.

'Sorry Lilykins,' said Sirius. 'We just have to absolutely sure.'

'Fine. I solemnly swear that I will not reveal any marauder secrets. I also solemnly swear to obey all rules of Fetch.'

'Fantastic. Now one more thing, then we can all go back to bed.'

'Thank Merlin,' muttered Peter. Lily looked over at him to see that James had nodded off on his shoulder and appeared to be drooling on Peter's pyjama shirt.

'Okay,' began Sirius. 'As per usual, every gets one object to help them in the game. Peter, since you lost in the last game, you get to choose first.'

'Oh right. Umm… I'll take the cloak thanks.'

"Ah,' said Sirius. 'I wanted the cloak you little rat, Pete.' If Lily had of been more awake, she would have wondered why the three boys (minus James who was still asleep) were giggling at what Sirius said. 'Anyways, Remus. You're next. What do you want?'

'I'll take the polyjuice potion.'

'Oh good choice Moony. So that must mean it's James next,' he looked over to the sleeping boy, pulling a face when he saw the pool of drool on Peter's shoulder. 'James! Hey!' He shook his arm roughly, waking him.

'What the fuck do you want Padfoot?' James growled, sitting up and wiping his chin with as much dignity as possible. Next to him Peter attempted to peel his wet shirt away from his skin.

'Wow and I thought Remus was the beast,' said Lily sarcastically.

'Oh he is,' replied Sirius. 'But James is the beast in bed,' he said, giving an over exaggerated wink to Lily. She rolled her eyes in return, not bothering to dignify that statement with a reply. 'Anyway, James, it's your turn to pick your item. Two way mirrors or magical knife?'

'Mirrors.'

'Fantastic. Are we done now?' Asked Sirius.

'I think so!' Remus jumped up. 'Oh wait, I almost forgot.' He fished around in his pocket before producing four brightly coloured bracelets. 'As always, don't lose these. They will heat up at the beginning of the game and whenever the baton…' he glanced at Lily, '- passes hands. It will grow cold to signal the end of Fetch. I suggest you put them on now as the game could start at any time within the next week.'

'Are we done now?' Asked Peter.

'I think so.'

'Thank fuck,' said James, standing up abruptly and stretching, not caring that half his stomach muscles were showing as he did so. Not that Lily was looking. He grabbed his broom and stalked up to the sixths years' dormitory without looking back.

'Not really a morning person is he?' snorted Lily as she too got up and walked towards the dormitory stairs.

'Mmm,' groaned Sirius, slowly getting up from the couch. 'He probably won't even remember this by tomorrow.'

'Ha, have fun with that. Well, this has been fun boys – well not really – but I'm gonna hit the sack and try to get a few more hours sleep. Goodnight.'

'Want some company?' Grinned Sirius. Lily laughed and flipped him off, her thoughts already on her warm four poster bed upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my story. It begins towards the end of sixth year and will continue on until seventh. I want this to be light-hearted and fun, but be as realistic as possible about the war. Also there won't be heaps of Snape in this story – he will be in it, but not a major character.**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you think!**

 **Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise belong to the wonderful J.K Rowling, as does the beautiful wizarding world of Harry Potter.**

Breakfast was an excitable event the next morning in the great hall. Students were chatting about the news; Fetch was going to start any time within the next week. Lily had been badgered all morning by students asking her about the game and was only half listening to Ralph, the excited third year Ravenclaw who sat next to her as she pushed around the scrambled eggs on her plate.

'So yeah, my money is on Sirius this year – obviously since I'm on his team – because I just think he's the most daring of the four, don't you think? No doubt he will hide you somewhere risky, like that time you guys hid on the roof of the Gryffindor tower! Man that would have been scary. Anyway, I'm writing an entry for the school paper and I was wondering if you can answer a few questions? Like where do you think -?'

Lily was just contemplating going back to bed and calling it a day when she spotted Mary Macdonald eating further down the table. 'Ralph,' she said, cutting him off halfway through his lengthy description of Sirius' hair. 'I'm really sorry, but I've got to go. I'll talk to you later alright?' She got up and gave him an absentminded smile before moving towards Marlene.

'But wait! Lily! What about the interview? For the paper?' Ralph called after her. She sent him a small wave before collapsing into the seat next to Mary.

'Ugh Mary, can this day be over already?' groaned Lily, slumping forward onto the table with her head on her arms.

Mary snorted. 'Why?' she asked Lily before looking in dismay at her cereal bowl, which now contained a rather large chunk of Lily's auburn hair floating around in it. 'You're hair's in my cereal again Lils.'

'Great,' said Lily sarcastically as she sat up and examined her milk soaked hair. 'Add it to the list of terrible things about this morning.'

'Oh surely it can't be that bad, you're a celebrity at the moment! And I saw you talking to Ralph before, he's kinder cute and I think he's sweet on you.'

'Mary he's thirteen! And he's only cute if you're into bad cowlicks and acne. Besides, I think he's sweet on Black, not me. I just had to sit through a ten minute description of his 'luscious locks,' Lily gagged as Mary laughed into her pumpkin juice.

'Talking about me ladies?' came a smooth voice as Sirius slipped into the seat next to Lily. 'I assume you were, since you were talking about luscious locks.'

'No actually, we were talking about Potter,' replied Mary with a cheeky grin.

'Ah you wound me Macdonald,' said Sirius, dramatically placing a hand over his wounded heart. 'I always knew you liked James' hair better. I guess it just goes to show what bad taste you have. Speaking of bad hair, I must say Lily, that milky hair really isn't doing you any favours.'

'Oh piss off Black,' said Lily as she pulled out her wand and performed a quick drying spell. 'What do you want anyway? You usually sleep well passed breakfast in the holidays.'

'Alright, you got me; I didn't come here just to enjoy the presence of your company, lovely though it may be. I was wondering if either of you have seen Prewett this morning?' asked Sirius.

'Alice? No we haven't see her. Why?'

'Bugger,' muttered Sirius. 'We can't find Frank either, they must be canoodling somewhere. We need to sort some things out with Frank, considering he's the game keeper and all.'

'Oh well check the back sitting area in the Library, that's where they were last time. But I'd proceed with caution if I were you; there's no telling what they're up too,' said Lily, blushing slightly as she knew from experience that interrupting those two could leave you scarred for life.

'Will do,' said Sirius standing up. 'Thank you my lovelies. Oh and Lily? You missed a spot.'

Lily groaned in defeat and placed her head on the table, revealing the missed chunk of milk soaked hair.

Alice Prewett wasn't stupid. She knew that during the next few days, she would see very little of her boyfriend due to his 'gamekeeper' status. That was why when she decided to get up with the birds and read in the library, she dragged Frank out of his bed to come with her. It's not that she minded the fact that he was so involved with Fetch, it was just that when the game was on, he was constantly badgered and harassed, making any hopes of time alone impossible. Not that he was much company now, Alice thought as she looked down from her book to the boy sleeping peacefully in her lap. He was eagle spread across the couch, his limbs dangling everywhere. Alice smiled softly at the goofball, watching him breathe in and out evenly.

'You're staring. S'creepy,' Frank mumbled. Alice laughed and ran her fingers through his hair as he peered up at her.

'I'm only staring because you were drooling.'

'What?!' said Frank, sitting up abruptly and knocking Alice's book out of her hands. 'Oh, sorry. Was I really?' he asked, wiping his mouth quickly.

'No you big goof, trust me, I wouldn't let you use me as a pillow if you drooled.'

'Oh please,' Frank snaked an arm around her waist and pulled him to her side, causing her to shriek. 'You love my drool. You loooove it,' he sang. Before Alice could react, he leaned over and ran his tongue up the side of her face like a dog. Alice let out a squeal and tried to wiggle out of his arms.

'Gross Frank! You're disgusting, let me go,' she giggled, trying to move away while went in for another lick. Alice was so caught up in trying to escape that she didn't notice Sirius walk in.

'Merlin, what the hell is going on?! Should I come back later?' he asked, raising an eyebrows at their antics. 'You're lucky I found you before Madam Pince did.' He watched in amusement as both Alice and Frank froze and looked up at him before they quickly let go of each other and smoothing out their clothes.

'Sirius! Sorry, we didn't see you there,' said Frank, going red when he realised that Sirius had just seen him licking his girlfriend. 'What can we do for you?' he asked, trying to ignore the giggles coming from Alice.

'Well you can keep your tongue in your mouth for one thing, no one wants to see that.'

'I do,' piped up Alice.

Sirius sent her a mildly disgusted look before continuing. 'Anyway I just wanted to talk to you about the game and give you the map,' he said, pulling out the worn bit of parchment. 'I'm holding you both to your solemn oaths not to tell anyone about it,' he glared at the both, trying to intimidate them into keeping the secret.

'Of course we won't Sirius,' said Alice, rolling her eyes. 'You can trust us.'

'Right. Yeah. Anyway just one other thing; say hypothetically speaking, if someone wanted to win a –completely unrelated – game, how long would they say, have to hide a baton?'

Frank rolled his eyes. 'I'm not telling you how long the game is going for Sirius. You ask me every year and I give you the same answer I give the other three. You'll have to wait and see.'

'Ah well, worth a try isn't it?' Sirius grinned, giving them a quick wave before sauntering away.

'That boy,' said Alice, amused at his antics. 'So who do you think will win Frankie?'

'I don't know, but I'd watch out for James this year; he's got quite the team lined up.'

James was having a terrible day. Not only was he suffering from sleep deprivation, but his right hand man was in the hospital wing with the flu. The Hufflepuff fourth year Reilly Bollard had sworn black and blue that he would be feeling better by that night, but one look at Madam Pomfrey was all James had needed to confirm his fears; Reilly wasn't moving anywhere anytime soon.

James swore under his breath. He needed Reilly dammit! Together they had determined the best tactics, hiding places and established alliances. He was the one that James was going to give one of the two way mirrors to. Now he needed to find a replacement, and fast. And his unfortunate target; Marlene McKinnon.

James sat in the common room for over an hour waiting for the sixth year to leave the girls dormitory. It didn't take him long after that to realise that she was thoroughly enjoying her holiday sleep-in and wasn't coming down anytime soon. With a huff, James stood up and stalked up to his own dormitory, grabbing his broom and snitching his invisibility cloak of Peter's bed. James threw the cloak over himself and his broom, crouching low so that it covered him completely. Hoping no one would see his feet, James slowly flew up to the girls' dormitory, where Marlene was peacefully sleeping.

When he got inside, James dismounted at the foot of Marlene's bed, debating on how best to wake the sleeping girl. He knew from experience that this was a dangerous task, and he prayed that it was late enough in the day that she had had enough sleep and wouldn't murder him. Not wanting to anger her any further, he decided against any loud noises or shaking her awake. Instead he grinned, walked over to the side of her bed, lifted up the blankets and slipped in next to her.

'Lily Evans if I open my eyes and you are in my bed again I swear I will shave your eyebrow off in your sleep. Notice how I only said eyebrow? Because I will leave one intact so that every time you look in the mirror you will see your one lonesome eyebrow and remember what you lost.'

'Well aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning,' quipped James. He watched in amusement as Marlene's brow furrowed before she opened her blue eyes blearily. When he saw the be-speckled boy grinning down at her she shut her eyes again.

'Fuck off James. It's too early for your shit.'

'My my, don't we have a dirty mouth?'

Marlene snorted. 'Like you can talk. To what do I owe this completely unwelcome and unwanted visit?'

'What? No – I'm gonna skin you alive for waking me up? No death threats or bodily harm?'

'Well I would, but you clearly already know the drill, so my efforts would just be wasted on you.'

'I only know the drill because I've been on the end of said threats many many times.'

'Mmm,' Marlene groaned before rolling onto her back, spitting out the honey blonde hair that had fallen into her mouth. 'Cut the crap James, why are you in my bed? What do you want? And before you ask, I am not doing any sexual favours for you.'

'Ah well I guess I should just go than.'

'Funny,' said Marlene sarcastically. 'Seriously, talk or leave so I can go back to sleep.'

'Okay, okay! I know you said no sexual favours, but what about a normal favour? Are you willing to help out your favourite marauder?' asked James, unashamedly pouting.

'Depends.'

'Well see the thing is, Reilly may or may not be… unavailable to be my head honcho in Fetch, and I was just wondering if-'

'No.'

'But you didn't even hear what I was going to say!'

'You were going to ask me to fill in for him, to help run your little team of spies in Fetch. And now I'm saying no because I detest the game and anything to do with it. Including you.'

'Oh please,' James scoffed, 'you love me. But seriously Marls, I really need your help. Reilly left me high and dry and if I don't get it sorted my team will completely crumble! I won't have anyone to spy on the others, flush out the hiding spots or help me make kickass plans to win. Sirius will win for sure.'

'So? Who cares? It's just a game.'

James looked at her incredulously. 'It's like I don't even know you! How can you think that this is just a game?! This is the biggest event of the year! Hogwarts looks forward to this more than Christmas! The entire school is either taking bets or playing on a team. It is life! If Sirius wins again then there will be no stopping him! Imagine the bragging. Think of the children for goodness sake!' James had gotten so worked up in his dramatic speech that he was now sitting up on the bed, throwing his hands around passionately to demonstrate his point.

'Okay first of all you're being dramatic. The entire school is not involved and they certainly do not look forward to it more than Christmas. But you do make a valid point with Sirius. No part of me wants to see that jerk win again,' admitted Marlene reluctantly. 'But I still won't do it. The whole concept of it is ridiculous! You steal my friend at some ungodly hour, and hide her around the school for hours, sometimes days! Forgive me if I'm not all for it.'

'If Lily is okay with it, why can't you be?'

'Because it's stupid.'

'That's not a good enough reason.'

'Well it's the only one you're getting, so deal with it.'

'Okay, I didn't want to have to do this Marls, but if you don't help me out… I'll tell Sirius what you said at the Christmas party last year.'

'You wouldn't,' said Marlene, glaring at James.

'Oh contraire, I most certainly would,' replied James, grinning cheekily.

'Fuck you James,' said Marlene, sighing in defeat. 'Alright, I'll do it,' she said, rolling her eyes as James whooped and punched the air. 'But don't think I'm happy about it. Just promise you won't tell Sirius what I said.'

'Oh don't you worry, my lips are sealed! You're the best Marlene, thank you, thank you, thank you!' he said, grabbing her forehead and kissing it roughly.

'Ugh gross, don't touch me.'

'Okay, so I'm going to have to explain the game plan to you. Basically…' Marlene groaned as James rambled on, wishing she could just go back to sleep and forget the last half an hour of the morning.

 **There we go! What do you think of Frank and Alice? Do you like Marlene and James friendship? Obviously this is still early days and it's going to take a while to develop the characters, but we will get there! Also eventually this fanfic will have the primary focus of James/Lily, but I think to properly portray the era it's going to have everyone in there.**

 **Next Chapter – the game begins!**


	3. The Game Begins

**Hooowdy my dearest readers. Another update, whoop! Sorry it took me so long to get out, I've been trying to get all the plot down, so I know what I'm doing. Anyway, please enjoy, and please feel free to review if you feel so inclined :P it makes me happy.**

 **Diiiiisclaimer: I am not JK nor do I own anything you see or recognise. (I do however own Ralph, he's my adorable little Ravenclaw.)**

The next day, Sirius Black sat in the kitchens, surrounded by thirty odd students, the most of which were watching him in envy as he chowed down on an apple pie. He had been talking animatedly for the past ten minutes, waving his pie around theatrically on a fork whilst the house elves bustled around the kitchen.

'…and so, as long as we stick to the plan, we should have it in the bag,' finished Sirius, as he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. 'Any questions?'

A plethora of hands flew into the air, making Sirius frown. 'You know what?' he asked. 'I don't care if you have questions, this plan is foolproof. And nothing any of you can say will change my mind. I'm a genius.'

There was a loud huff from the end of the table. Sirius closed his eyes, praying silently for patience. He knew without looking who had huffed; Dorcas Meadows. The Ravenclaw head girl was known by all for being confident and stubborn. Her friends new her as kind and compassionate. Her rivals knew her as harsh and clever. Sirius Black was the latter. In fact. He wasn't even quite sure what she was doing here, or why he even invited her.

Sirius sighed, slowly opening his grey eyes to observe the gaggle of students in front of him, he very pointedly ignored the brown eyes of Dorcas which were boring into him from the other end of the table. 'Right, now that that's settled, everyone bugger off, I've got things to do. Oh and don't forget to keep your armbands on so you know what's happening,' he said, lifting his arm slightly to emphasize the importance of the purple leather bands that the group was sporting.

Sirius sighed and sat back in his chair as the group dispersed, many of them talking amiably about the upcoming game. It was then that he spotted the tall Ravenclaw headed towards him, making him immediately sit up straight as he prepared himself for the inevitable argument. Before Dorcas could speak however, Ralph popped up at Sirius' elbow, bouncing up and down excitedly.

'Hey Sirius! How are you? You look good today, I like you're hair like that, it makes you look like you belong in that boy band, The Nargles. You know? The ones that sing _You're a Love Potion_ and _Baby Break My Heart_. They're so dreamy and-'

'Ralph! Is there something you needed or did you just want to make me wish I was bald?' asked Sirius, mildly exasperated with the younger boy who seemed intent on making Sirius feel nauseous at the mention of the currently famous boy band.

'Oh, y-yes right,' stuttered Ralph, realising he had been rambling, 'I just wanted to give you this,' he said, pulling a warn scroll from his bag. 'It's the list of hiding spots that you asked us to brainstorm a while back, I just finished writing it all up.'

'Brilliant,' grinned Sirius while the younger boy beamed back. 'Really fantastic, thank you Ralph, that's bloody fantastic.'

Dorcas leaned against the wall as she watched the exchange between the two boys. She was surprised to see Sirius being so kind to Ralph, who had a tendency to annoy, something which she had been on the receiving end of numerous times in the Ravenclaw common room. Curious and eager to please, the third year often buzzed around the Ravenclaw tower asking questions and attempting to 'help' whoever needed. Despite his irritating friendliness, Dorcas knew that Ralph was a smart boy, perhaps smarter than most people realised. Perhaps that's why liked Ralph, she felt like she could relate, being constantly underestimated. Dorcas grew up shy and as a result was often pushed aside, being the tall, gangly freak that she was. It wasn't until Dorcas grew into herself (both physically and mentally) that she started to appreciate her potential and who she was, and soon so did everyone else.

'Right,' she heard Sirius say, 'really, thank you for this Ralph, it's going to be a great help. Now if you don't mind I've got to get going.'

'Not so fast Black,' said Dorcas, pushing herself off the wall as she came to stand in front of them. She noticed with a twinge of pleasure that she was a few inches taller than the Gryffindor boy; she hoped he noticed.

'What do you want Meadows?' Sirius sighed. He had noticed that she was now taller than him and he was determined to not let it get to him. 'Something got your knickers in a twist? I'm not gonna help you untie them. Ralph might though.'

'What?' squeaked Ralph, his face red and looking suitably mortified.

'Your plan,' said Dorcas, ignoring Sirius' comment and Ralph's mumbled apologies. 'It sucks.'

'Oh?' said Sirius, raising an eyebrow. 'You're acting like a care about what you think.'

'You should, if you want to win.'

'Alright, I'll bite. What's so bad about my plan?' asked Sirius, his icy blue eyes sceptical.

'Dragons.'

'Dragons?' repeated Sirius incredulously.

'Yes, your plan relies largely on dragons, and in case you haven't noticed, you don't _have_ a dragon.'

'How do you know?'

'What?'

'How do you know that I don't have a dragon hidden away somewhere?' he asked, folding his arms and smirking up at the older girl.

'For heaven's sake Black! If you're going to be so blatantly stupid, I'll go join another team!' exclaimed Dorcas as she threw up her hands in frustration. She turned to walk to the kitchen door when Sirius called her back.

'Okay, okay. I do have a plan, one that doesn't involve dragons.'

'You do?' asked Meadows, turning back to the two boys.

'Yep, just ask Ralph. We have a plan don't we Ralph?'

'Umm…'

'Well we do, even if Ralph doesn't remember it.'

'Care to share?'

Sirius pretended to think about it for a few seconds. 'Yeah no, not really.'

'Why not? I'm on your team aren't I?' asked Dorcas, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.

Sirius leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her. 'Yes and why is that Meadows? It's not a secret that you don't like me, so why now are you trying to 'help' me?' he asked, suspicion coating his words like a thick honey.

'The lesser evil,' she shrugged. 'I owe James for what he did to the Ravenclaw quidditch team a few weeks ago, Peter… I don't think he has a chance at winning, even with my help and Remus bet me five galleons that you wouldn't win, so here I am.'

'Hmm…' said Sirius, studying her so intently that Dorcas started to squirm. 'You know what I think Ralph?' he asked, not looking away from the head girl.

'What?' asked Ralph warily, he was standing on the balls of his feet, watching the two of them like a tennis match.

'I think that Meadows here might be our snitch.'

'What?' said Ralph, more confused now; the last time he had checked, Dorcas skin was chocolate coloured, not gold. Nor was she sprouting any wings.

'She's the double agent, the leak. I think she's working for our dear Remus.'

'Oh,' said Ralph, understanding lighting his face. She was a double agent, not a glittering gold quidditch ball.

'I am not!' cried Dorcas indignantly. 'I may not love you Black, but I _am_ loyal to the side I choose. You're being ridiculous.'

'No, frankly I'm just being cautious Meadows, sorry. Now,' he said, rubbing his hands together excitedly. 'Now that that is settled, I've got things to do, you know how it is, being popular and all,' he said, completing his sentence with an absentminded wave of his hand. Now that he had realised that Dorcas was the snitch he felt at ease, safe. He knew the game plan and he knew what he had to do, he wasn't worried that his top secret secrets would no longer be secret. He was the ultimate top secret, secret keeper.

'Thank you for that enlightening chat Meadows, but I'd best be on my way, come along Ralph.' Tipping an imaginary hat to Dorcas and the house elves that still bustled around the kitchen, Sirius strode towards the door.

'You'll regret this Black. I'm not your snitch, but someone is giving up your game. You should have taken my offer of help, you'll need me if you want to win,' said Dorcas coolly. There was nothing that mad Dorcas madder than being accused of something without proper evidence, whether or not she had done it. It was just poor reasoning. Although she supposed that Sirius Black wasn't one known for his thinking.

Sirius paused and looked back at her, smirking slightly. 'It would never have worked out between us, I'm sorry Meadows,' he grinned, sending her a wink before slipping out the door, which shut with a resounding _thud._

Lily should have been studying. Merlin knows she needed too. She had about fifty assignments to do, spells to master and facts to memorise for her upcoming O. . But instead of studying, Lily found herself out by the lake, enjoying what she was sure was her last few moments of solitude for a while.

Lily plonked herself down in front of a small grove of trees next to the lake. It was a spot that she often took refuge in when she wanted some peace and quiet from the noisy Gryffindor common room. She hadn't been out here in an age since winter had been so bitterly horrible, but now she relished the feel of the weak sunlight on her face and the soft grass under her fingertips. As she sat, she thought about the game. Contrary to what some people believed, she did actually enjoy the game. She found the sneaking around and learning marauder trade secrets fun, and there really was no one better to do it with then the marauders. They were clever, and daring and a little bit crazy, all of which made for a slightly terrifying, fun ride.

Of course sometimes it wasn't great. Like the time she and Sirius got stuck in a secret corridor for hours with no toilets. Lily blushed as she remembered how they had desperately transfigured Sirius' hat into a bed pan and had to walk down the end of the corridor for privacy. It was perhaps one of the lowest points in Lily's life thus far, and she and Sirius had sworn never to speak of it again or tell the others. So yeah, there had been some terrible times when she cursed the boys and their stupid, completive streaks, but overall, she loved running around with them and getting into mischief, even if it was only for a few hours (sometimes days) a year.

As Lily reminisced about some of her past escapades with the marauders, she felt a burning pain on her wrist, comfortably hot. Her eyes flew open as she realised what it was. The rainbow coloured band on her wrist was heating up. The game had begun.

 **Ooooh exciting, the game has begun! Who do you think will find her first? Sorry that James and Remus are a bit MIA at the moment, actually sorry there hasn't been much James in any of the chapters yet, but trust me, he is coming and he will be in the next chapter a lot. This is hopefully going to be a long mulit-fic so I'm just taking the time to set things up, flesh out the characters and all that jazz. Anyhooo please review because that makes me happy, feedback and critical crap also helps me because I'm still figuring this shizz out. Also sorry it's a bit short, I'm working on that too.**


	4. Bratwurst

**I AM SO SORRY. I know it has been forever since I updated. Long story short – my computer crashed and I lost everything. Sooo I had to rewrite a lot of it. But I promise that from now on updates shall be more regular. Also I've decided that this isn't going to be my massive marauders story that I have planned, instead I'll keep them separate, so this will just cover Fetch in yr 6 and yr 7. It will just be a fun story instead. No angsty sadness here. Anyway if you got to the end of this note – congrats! You all get a wagon wheel for reading (Australian chocolate biscuit, they're delicious.)**

 **Disclaimers – The World of HP does not belong to me.**

 **32 Minutes.**

Some people would call James Potter a stalker. In fact, even James Potter would have once called himself a stalker, if he was being completely honest. But now James preferred to think of it as _being observant._ It wasn't his fault that he had noticed where Lily liked to spend her spare time, sometimes he just _happened_ to stare at her name on the map, and sometimes he just _coincidentally_ ended up where she was. Something that mystified Lily for years until she learnt about the map, after which she forbade James to stalk her with it or she would castrate him (a threat that he conveniently forgot about a week later.)

So it came to no one's surprise when James found Lily first. He'd been playing exploding snap with Peter in the common room when his bracelet had burned. He'd jumped up without completing his turn, causing the cards to explode with a loud bang that he didn't hear because he was already racing up to the dormitory to grab his broom.

James spent about twenty precious minutes yelling at Marlene through the mirror and flying around the castle grounds looking for Lily. He'd spied a flash of red between a grove of trees next to the lake and thanked merlin that none of the others had found her first.

'Potter,' said Lily as he flew towards her, 'what a surprise that you found me first,' she muttered sarcastically as she stood up and brushed herself off. 'Did you have to bring the broom? I don't exactly have good memories of flying with you.'

James rolled his eyes as he held out his hand to her to help her onto his broom, their bands burning slightly as they clocked in. 'It wasn't that bad Evans.'

'Three hours Potter, we were on that broom for three hours. I couldn't walk properly for a week!' Lily huffed, remembering *** year when James had won by holding her hostage on his broom for a few hours. James grinned as she rolled her eyes, swinging her leg over the broom and settling behind him.

'Well you'll be happy to know that it's only a short trip today,' he said, turning his head slightly to talk to the redhead behind him. 'Hold on,' he grinned. Lily shrieked as James took off with no warning and she lurched forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his torso. Sitting this close to him she could feel his laughter rumbling in his chest.

'Slow down you tosser!' Lily yelled over the wind, spitting hair from her mouth. For once he listened to her and they slowed from their breakneck speed. 'Thank you,' she said, loosening her death grip on James slightly, albeit reluctantly as the cold wind swirled around her. She looked down and saw that they were flying low over the castle, the tops of the highest towers almost close enough to touch. Hogwarts looked pretty spectacular from here, she had to admit as she watched some students milling about the courtyard below. Before she could take in more of the view she noticed James was angling his broom to one of the tallest towers, towards a window that looked like it was on the seventh floor. As they neared it she was conscious of James pulling out his wand, making the window spring open for them to fly through soundlessly.

'There we go,' said James as he brought the broom to a hover so that Lily could dismount. 'I told you it wouldn't take long this time.' He flashed Lily a grin before hopping off the broom himself and propping it up against a wall. Lily looked around the room; it was surprisingly large, yet Lily felt cramped due to the low ceiling. It didn't help that numerous shelves towered over her, covered in broken teacups and old, moth eaten books.

'Where are we?' she asked, her nose wrinkling slightly as she took in the decay before her.

'It's the old divination classroom, they used to use it before old Merryweather's knees got so bad he couldn't get up the trapdoor anymore,' James explained, walking over to the nearest sagging shelf. 'See? Teacups,' he said, picking up a cracked and yellowed teacup.

'Oh,' said Lily. 'I was always rubbish at divination.' She recalled with faint amusement how she and Marlene would make up ridiculous fortunes and giggle, much to the disappointment of Mary who found the subject fascinating.

'Yes, well it's a load of crock anyway,' James replied absentmindedly, fiddling with the cup in his hands. 'Anyway, the good thing is that it's not on the map, because we hadn't found this place yet. We knew about it, but because the trap door is sealed up, we didn't know exactly where it was. I suppose I'll have to add it after the game,' he finished thoughtfully as he placed the cup back on the shelf.

By now Lily was all but ignoring James as she rummaged through her large bag for the novel that she'd brought with her. Thank merlin she had thought ahead and taken her packed bag with her down to the lake. She was just pulling out her worn copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ when she heard a loud creak to her left. Looking over she saw James fiddling with a door before disappearing through it. 'Potter,' she hissed, walking over to the doorway. 'What are you doing?'

She jerked her head back in surprise when the door swung open, nearly clipping her nose. She walked into the dimly lit room, squinting through the darkness to where James was sitting next to the large fireplace. Within seconds the fire was lit and James was grinning at her through the light. 'Come in Evans, welcome to Merryweather's old office,' he said, spreading his arms wide form his spot in the floor. 'I would open the curtains but I'm afraid there might be some nasty rodent living in them, so best not. Come, take a seat,' he said, moving from his spot on the floor to the worn couch next to the fire place.

Lily walked over, eying the curtain apprehensively as she did so; she was not a fan of rodents. She sat on the opposite end of the couch, if James noticed the distance, he didn't say anything. 'Is this your way of trying to seduce me Potter? Lead me to a dark room and light a fire?'

James raised an eyebrow. 'Trust me Evans, if I was going to seduce you, I would not do it with musty rooms and rats.'

'Too classy for you is it?' asked Lily, only half joking.

'Please Evans, I wouldn't need anything to seduce you, just my body,' he said with a wicked grin, gesturing to his toned body as he slouched on the couch.

Lily snorted. 'Keep dreaming buddy.'

'Every night,' said James, giving an exaggerated wink. Lily felt herself blush and hoped that Potter couldn't see it in the low light. Shrugging off the comment, Lily opened her book and tried to distract herself from the boy fidgeting across from her. It was about half an hour before Lily looked up again, and when she did she saw James sprawled out on the couch, he head hanging off the arm as he slept. She grinned, because if there was one thing that she knew about James, it was that he loved to sleep, no matter where he was or what time of day it was. He claimed that this was why he had such great hair, because it always had that I-just-woke-up-look. Lily just thought he was lazy.

As Lily watched the sleeping boy, her wrist band gave a light pulse of heat, signalling that she and James had been hiding for an hour. Lily and James had been in each other's company for a whole hour and hadn't had a single argument. That must be a record for them or something. If someone had told her last year that they could've gone that long without fighting she probably would have busted a rib from laughing at them. But over the course of the last year, she and James seem to have become tentative… friends? She didn't know if that was the right word. They got along majority of the time, since James had stopped being such a tosser, but he still drove her crazy. They arguments had certainly calmed down, but they had by no means stopped.

Before Lily had a chance to look away, James stirred before opening one eye blearily. 'Stop staring,' he murmured sleepily as he closed his eyes and settled into a more comfortable position. 'S' creepy.'

Lily rolled her eyes before turning back to her book, becoming once again immersed in the world of Pemberley as James snored lightly from the other end of the couch.

Frank was already having a bad day. He'd woken up late to find that he had slept through breakfast (and Frank _really_ loved breakfast), Alice was mad at him because he'd spent last night engrossed in his new book and had completely forgotten that he was meant to meet her and now he had just been kicked out of the library because of an over-excited third year who wanted to know about Fetch. However he knew that it was going to get a hundred times worse when word got out that the game had started about half an hour ago.

Frank was just deciding whether he should go to the common room and lay low for a while or find Alice and apologise when something brightly coloured coming towards him. To Franks dismay, the brightly coloured thing turned out Amber Lawler wearing tied-dyed robes that sported the slogan 'WHEN GOD MADE MAN, SHE WAS ONLY JOKING.'

'Frank,' she hummed as she approached him. 'It's good to see you. Everything alright? Your aura is practically burning.'

'My what? You know what, never mind. I'm fine thanks Amber. Is there anything I can do to help you, because if not I really have somewhere I need to be,' lied Frank. The truth was that Amber unnerved him. She was generally absentminded and floaty, however when she felt the need she could drag and man down and leave him a quivering mess without a second thought. Plus she had different coloured eyes, and that always freaked him out. Thankfully Amber didn't seem to be aware of his thinly veiled attempt avoid her.

'Yes actually,' she said with sudden intensity as she tore her gaze from the painting of Saint Germain on the wall next to them to look determinedly into Franks own wide eyes. 'Can you tell me which of the boys is currently in possession of Lily Evans?'

'Ah n-no, I can't sorry Amber,' stuttered Frank, taken aback by her abruptness. 'Why are you even playing this year? Don't you usually lead the protest against Fetch because you think it degrades women?'

Amber's eyes flashed dangerously at Franks question. 'Yes, I usually organise the protest, however this year Peter… made me an offer I couldn't refuse. However, I still do think it is wrong the way they treat Lily as an object that men can control. It's simply a reflection of the patriarchal society that we live in, where men think that they are superior and can _own_ women. You don't own me Frank, and you're no better than me. Do you think you're better than me because you have a bratwurst in your trousers?' Frank's eyes were wide as Amber became more passionate in her rant, using jerky hand gestures as she invaded his space. 'Joan of the Arc was the first witch to lead a victorious army into battle, Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic _solo_ before using a vanishing spell to live out the rest of her life in piece on a tropical island. Do you really think you really think you're better then these great women just because you're a male in charge of a game that degrades women?' Frank felt his cheeks burning as people began to turn curiously to Amber's raised voice as she began to insult him and the size of his – what had she called it? Bratwurst? He had to get away, unfortunately she didn't look like she was stopping anytime soon.

'James Potter!' Frank exclaimed in desperation.

'- and I'm sure your brain size matches your tiny bratw- what? James has her?' asked Amber, stopping mid-sentence as she registered what Frank had said.

'Yes, although I'm not sure exactly where but he said something about divination. That's all I know, please leave me alone,' mumbled Frank miserably, aware that he had been defeated by the crazy feminist.

'Okay, thanks. That wasn't so hard was it? I'm sorry I insulted you. I'm sure you have a huge bratwurst. You hear that everyone,' she said raising her voice to the small crowd that had gathered during her rant. 'Frank Longbottom has a huge bratwurst.'

'Thanks,' mumbled Frank, his face going so scarlet that it rivalled his Gryffindor robes. He shuffled off as Amber grinned in victory.

She knew she was often oblivious to what was going on around her, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that the shy Gryffindor would hate any attention that she brought upon him and would do anything to get away, including tell her the information she needed to pass onto Peter so that he would leave her alone. In fact, Frank had lasted a lot longer than she had thought he would. She grinned dopily as she walked down the corridor slipping back into her usual Zen. The only sound was the gentle slap of her bare feet on the marble as she made her way to find Peter to tell him the good news.

 **So as you can probably tell, this chapter went in a strange direction. I love Frank. Next chapter will feature more Lily and James chats, as well as some action. Get keen.**


	5. Snow Storm

**Soooo I know it's been like forever. Sorry. I don't have an excuse I just am a terrible person. Anyway, to make up for it, here's a much longer chapter, which kind of just got out of hand. And I'm not real happy with the ending but stuff it. Hope you enjoy!**

James' was screaming. Or more accurately, his trousers were.

Lily had been deeply enthralled with her book when she'd heard a strange noise coming from James. With an irritated sigh she looked up ready to scold the quidditch captain, only to find him still sleeping peacefully on the other side of the couch, oblivious to the slight vibrations coming from his pocket. Curious now, Lily moved closer to him, trying to determine what strange object he had hidden away. She considered waking him to get him to stop the noise, however she had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was in his pocket was one of the elusive marauder trade secrets that she would not be privy to if he was awake.

Moving slowly, she reached towards his pocket, careful not to wake him. She had just barely felt the hard, cool object when she heard a low huff of amusement, making her freeze.

'You know Evans, if you wanted to grope me this badly, you should've just asked. Don't wait until I'm asleep next time,' James murmured, a smirk slipping onto his face as he cracked open a bleary, hazel eye.

Lily felt her face heat up as she snatched the offending hand away from James. 'Please, like I'd ever want to touch you. Your pocket is yelling,' she quickly added when James raised an eyebrow at her. James gave her a slow grin before lazily reaching into his pocket, amplifying the noise coming from the small mirror in his hands.

'- so help me James I will stuff precious metals up your nose and set a niffler on you if you don't pick up-'

'Marlene?' asked Lily, bewildered to hear her friend threatening James. She scooted across the couch so she could peer into the mirror, where she saw Marlene looking very angry as she glared at James. 'What on earth are you doing? Why do you have James' mirror?'

'She's helping me,' said James.

'What? Why? You hate Fetch Marls, why would you encourage James?' asked Lily, feeling increasingly confused as she looked between the two. James wouldn't meet her eye as he cleared his throat awkwardly and ran his hand through his hair.

'I er, persuaded-'

' _Blackmailed_ ,' Marlene cut in.

'-Persuaded her to help me, and in return I promised that a certain something that she said about a certain someone at a certain Christmas party would stay secret,' explained James, grinning sheepishly at Lily, who promptly started laughing when she realised what James was referring too.

'Oh come on Marls,' said Lily, still snickering at her friend. 'It wasn't _that_ bad, not bad enough to be blackmailed by anyway.'

'Wouldn't be bad for you maybe, but for me? Merlin if Black ever found out…' Marlene drifted off, shuddering at the thought.

'Yes it would be the end of the world as we know it. Now if you're quite done, we have something more important to attend too. How's the game going? Where are the others? James asked, tilting the mirror away from Lily so that all Marlene could see what James.

'Well…' came Marlene's voice. Lily could just picture how she would be nervously chewing on her lip. 'Do you want the bad news of the good news first?'

'Gimme the good first.'

'The good news is that Sirius is currently exploring the dungeons and is nowhere near you. The bad is that Remus is currently lurking near you guys on the seventh floor. Apparently Amber Lawler interrogated Frank and made him run his mutt, so Sirius knows vaguely where you are, but like, not exactly where you are.'

'Fuck,' cursed James, closing his eyes slowly with a pained expression. 'Fucking Frank and his fear of feminists, Amber must be on someone's team if she's trying to get information.' he opened his eyes again and frowned. 'Bloody inconvenient that she questioned Frank in public, all the boys must've heard what Frank said by now. What about Pete, does anyone know where he is?'

'No, there's been no sign of him, and he's team doesn't seem to be doing much either,' shrugged Marlene, clearly with no hint of surprise about Peter's lack of competition.

'Does Remus know where the trapdoor is?' asked Lily, referring to the secret door that led to the divination room.

'Nah, it's sealed up, just looks like part of the ceiling from down there. It'll take him a long time to figure it out, if he does at all. We should be fine,' James flashed her a lazy grin before slipping back into what he called his 'game face' and what Peter called his 'I just ate a dungbomb' face.

'Right Marls, send our snitch to keep an eye on things. Actually, get the snitch to tell Sirius and Remus that Frank was lying, that I told Frank to tell everyone I was near the divination rooms so that they would be thrown off the trail. Hopefully that'll keep them out of the way for a while. They both think our snitch is on their own team, so they won't question it. Remus might go look somewhere else altogether,' he added thoughtfully. 'Anything else?'

'Nope,' said Marlene, popping the 'p' loudly.

'Right, well keep my posted is anything changes.'

'Sir yes sir,' said Marlene, giving a him a serious salute that was only slightly marred by her eye-roll, before fading out of sight.

'So, who's your snitch?' asked Lily curiously as James shoved the mirror back into his pocket unceremoniously.

He looked at her incredioulsy. 'You think I'd tell you? That's top-secret information miss Evans, the only people who know that is Marlene, the snitch and my good self. And that's the way it's staying. No,' he said, shaking his head as he studiously ignored Lily's growing pout, 'all I can tell you is that the Sirius thinks the snitch is snitching on my team, when really he is working for me, double-oh-seven style.' He made a finger gun at Lily, giving a little 'pew' as he pretended to shoot her.

Lily rolled her eyes, wishing that she'd never introduced him to the Bond series. 'So how do you know he's not being a double agent for Sirius, or Remus, or even Peter? He might just be pretending to work for you, when he is really giving the information to someone else.'

'No way Evans,' scoffed James. 'I know for a fact that he is not working for Sirius, despite what Sirius thinks. And he's not working for Remus because he's got some weird vendetta against Remus, although Moony's got no idea. And I doubt it even occurred to Pete to have a snitch on another team. Trust me Lils, I know he's on my team.'

Sirius knew that the snitch was on his team. Exhibit A; the snitch had informed him that Frank was wrong about where James was hiding. James wasn't in the dungeons, James was actually in the dungeons, or that was what he had unwittingly told the snitch that Sirius had planted in his team. Now Sirius was scouring the dungeons for the baton.

Preoccupied as he was, Sirius didn't miss the quick pulse of heat from his bracelet signalling that James had now been in possession of Lily for two whole hours. One hundred and twenty points already. Cursing under his breath, Sirius slammed the door of the cupboard that he had been searching; if he didn't find Lily soon, James may as well be named the victor already. Not to mention the fact that he'd heard rumours of a short game, meaning that every minute was precious. He huffed again.

His head stuffed into a cupboard under the bench, Sirius didn't notice that he had company in the room until he heard someone calling his name. Startled, he jerked his head up, only to smack it so hard that it felt as though he should have little birds floating around his head, like he's seen on the muggle cartoons. Cursing and rubbing his head, he straightened and turned to see Dorcas Meadows leaning against the bench opposite him, her eyebrow raised pointedly.

'You don't seriously think that James is hiding Lily in a cupboard in the dungeons, do you?' asked Dorcas, her tone as mocking as her raised eyebrow. 'I mean, surely he's more creative than that.'

'Are you joking?' Sirius continued to rub his head. 'James is about as creative as a wet mop; besides he would love to be cramped into a closet with Lily. And sometimes the simplest hiding places as the best,' he shook his head, not really sure why he was wasting his precious time talking to the Ravenclaw. 'What do you want Meadows?' he asked, turning to continue his search through the abandoned classroom.

'I've just come to tell you that I know who your snitch is.'

Sirius paused in his search as he processed her words. He slowly turned around, to find her admiring her nails nonchalantly, purposely avoiding his questioning gaze.

'What do you mean you found my snitch? I'm pretty sure that the snitch hidden in my team was you, Meadows. Everyone else in my team is airtight,' he said, his confidence only slightly betrayed by his eyes desperately seeking a trail of a clue on her face.

Dorcas sighed and crossed her arms, meeting his gaze with her own, equally piercing one. 'I already told you that I wasn't a snitch, you knob. But if you don't want to know, then fine, I'll leave you alone.' She straightened, clearly finished with the conversation.

'Wait,' called Sirius before she could move towards the door. 'Who is it?' he asked, ignoring her triumphant smirk.

'It's Ralph.'

Sirius scoffed. 'Clearly you don't know shit, Meadows. Ralph is snitching on James for me; James think he's on his team, but really, he's playing the double agent and keeping me informed. I know my team.'

'And James probably thinks the same thing. He could be on anyone's team really, but I would say that he's not on yours. Because honestly Sirius, why are you searching in _cupboards_ in the _dungeons_ for James, when you know in your gut that he's not hiding here? Is it because a certain snitch told you too?'

'Okay then, if he is the snitch, which he most definitely is not, why are you telling me this? I wouldn't think you'd want to help me,' suspicion coated his voice as he attempted to stare the dark-skinned girl down.

'Oh, I don't want to help you,' Dorcas met Sirius's gaze with a sly smile. 'I'm telling you because I know you won't believe me. I'm telling you because you'll follow your own pride to your destruction. You game will end tits up, and I'll be watching with a smile as everything crumbles, and you slowly realise that all of this could have been avoided if you had've trusted me.' She stood up straight as her brown eyes glowed. Sirius hadn't noticed until this moment that she was taller than he was. 'I want to to watch you game burn, Sirius Black, and I want it to be your own stupidity that does it.'

Sirius snorted, breaking the tension-filled starred down. 'Well, that was needlessly dramatic Meadows. Now, if you don't mind, I've got some more cupboards to check.'

'Fine,' shrugged Dorcas, 'it's none of my business if you want to ruin yourself. Just remember when it happens, that I warned you.' She walked towards the door, not giving a second glance as she heard a cupboard door slam.

James sat in a dusty room, on a dusty couch, staring at a dusty wall. He had never been so bored in all his life. Not even in a History of Magic had he been this bored. Maybe because in reality, that class was always a riot of seeing how many ridiculous things they could get away with until Binns noticed they weren't paying attention. Sirius' tribute to Abba (which was performed on a table top, whist wearing sparkly heels) had to be his favourite so far. Either way, it was much less boring than sitting on a duty couch in a dusty room, staring at a dusty wall.

James sighed and looked over at his companion on the other end of the dusty couch. Lily was completely engrossed in her book, her eyes flashing emerald as they darted across the page. Her hair was thrown up into a hazarders bun, making large chunks of her bright hair falls around her face. The firelight washed her in an ethereal glow; she looked almost otherworldly to James as she chewed absentmindedly on her lip as she read, completely unawares of James' gaze.

'Stop staring, it's creepy.'

Not completely unawares then. James gave her a sheepish smile as she glanced up at him over her book.

'Sorry,' he said. And then a few minutes later; 'I'm bored.'

'Well entertain yourself,' replied Lily, irritation creeping into her voice as he interrupted her reading again. 'or have another nap. We're both happier when you're asleep.'

'You just want me to go to sleep so you can feel me up again, like last time,' he winked.

'Yes,' agreed sarcastically Lily as she turned back to her book, ignoring his baiting. She knew that he was just trying to get a rise out of her because he was bored. But she didn't feel like arguing with him just because he couldn't entertain himself.

James stood up and stretched; he clearly wasn't going to get any amusement from Lily. He wandered over to the old desk that was pushed up against the wall next to the mouldy curtains. He rummaged through the drawers, find nothing more exciting than a few broken quills and a teacup. Sighed he closed the desk drawer, disappointed with his find, he straightened and looked around the dimly lit room for something else to explore. He thought about opening the curtains and watching the grounds below, but he had sworn on more than one occasion that the curtains had twitched out the corner of his eye, making him almost certain that a creature was lurking in them. Something which he did not want to deal with.

James wandered over to the bookcase. He wasn't much of a reader, but consider how bored he was, he would probably try anything right now. As he attempted to read the faded titles, something caught his eye. Sitting on the corner of a shelf, was a collection of crystal balls, covered in a thick coat of dust. James ran his finger down one of them, thinking about the many times he and Peter had made up ridiculous scenes of the future that they had pretended to see in the balls.

Using his sleeve, James rubbed the dust off one of the balls, and gave a gasp of surprise when he was a miniscule scene within the ball. It was a winter wonderland. A small village, coated in pristine white snow, making the cottages look like the little muggle gingerbread houses that he'd seen in a shop. He looked closely, watching as the imagine came to life before his eyes, he could see a group of children sledding down a small hill, a dog running crazy circles in the snow around them. Shopper goers plodded from shop to shop, stopping to admire the frozen fountain in the middle of the town as snow fell softly around them.

It was beautiful. Mesmerising. James had never seen anything like it. He knew it wasn't a vision of the future; he'd always been rubbish as divination. It seemed more like it was simply a little scene, literally frozen in time.

'Lily,' he called, tearing his eyes from the magic before him. 'Come look at this.'

'Hmm?' she asked, not taking her eyes of the page she was currently reading.

'Come look at this.'

'Yeah,' she muttered, not even looking at him. James sighed, he wasn't even sure she realised he was speaking to her. Clearly her book was much more interesting than he was.

He turned back to the book shelf, resolving that Lily would appreciate the interruption if he took the ball over to her. After all, he always appreciated interruptions when he was trying to read, which wasn't very often.

James made to pick up the ball, but it was heavy. Much heavier than a normal crystal ball. Determined, he dragged it to the end of the shelf and hefted it into his arms, cradling it against his chest. The movement stirred up the snow, and the inhabitants in the glass ran inside their little houses for cover as he stumbled his way over to the couch. But before the boy could quite make it, he tripped, sending the crystal tumbling to the ground where it landed with a resounding _crack_.

'What the hell was that?' asked Lily, whipping around in her seat.

James was standing behind the couch, swearing loudly as he bent down to examine the broken crystal at his feet. The ball had not shattered, much to his relief, but there was a large crack that creaked its way across the surface, leading right into the heart of the ball. He rolled it over gently, ignoring Lily's questions as he did so. The beautiful scene that was captured in the ball was destroyed, snow slowly pouring out onto the ground.

As James watched, the snow began to gather, dancing above the crystal and a soft breeze began to blow through the room, carrying the snow higher.

'What the-,' James jumped back as snow started pouring out the crystal rapidly, and a strong wind ripped through the room, creating a mini snow storm in front of him.

He heard Lily calling his name, as the wind began to howl, making her sound as though she was more than a few mere meters away. Her hair whipped around her face as she shoved her book into her bag, quickly gathering up her stuff. Snow was blowing through the room thick and fast now and Lily could barely see James standing in the middle of the room, wand raised as he furiously shouted spells, which were having little to no effect on the storm.

Lily felt a flash or irritation at the foolish boy, but she pushed it aside, deciding that it wouldn't help at the moment. Less then a minute had passed, but the situation continued to escalate; everywhere Lily looked was white. She couldn't even see the door anymore, let alone James.

She didn't even attempt to draw her wand, learning from James' mistake. Instead she resolutely put her head down and began trudging towards the door. She moved slowly, often stumbling when a large gust of wind blew, and slipping on icy patches on the floor.

Suddenly a strong hand grabbed her arm, and James was right in front of her. He was covered in snow, his clothes soaked through, she was surprised that he could even see through his ice-covered glasses.

He leaned in close, his breath hot on her ear as he shouted. 'What are you doing? The doors are the other way!' Before Lily could respond, he was dragging her in the opposite direction, his hand like fire on her wrist in comparison to the snow.

The next few seconds passed in minute detail; the snow stinging her face, the wind whistling in her ears, the hair in her mouth, wet clothes sticking to wet skin and above all, the burning hand holding hers.

And then suddenly it stopped. James had pulled her through the door with a hard jerk before letting her go, using his whole body to slam the door shut behind him. Lily could still make out the wind blowing in the other room, but they were out of it for now.

James leaned back on the door, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He looked at Lily. She was a sodden mess, her clothes completely soaked and sticking to her in a tantalizing way. She was spitting hair out of her mouth as she rummaged in her bag, assumedly looking for her wand to warm herself up, if her shivering was anything to go by. James thought she looked beautiful. Like a drowned rat, yes. But beautiful nonetheless. _Not that rats are sexy_ thought James, exhaling a quick laugh under his breath.

At his laugh, Lily stilled and stood up straight. It was then that James noticed that she looked extremely pissed off, and he knew that he was going to immediately regret the last few minutes.

'Something funny Potter?' Lily bit, glaring at James.

'Well we were just caught in a snowstorm in the middle of a classroom. You have to admit, that's a little funny.' As soon as the words left James' mouth he knew that Lily did not find any part of the situation funny.

'No actually, I don't think being freezing cold and blown about is funny. Thanks to you, I'm cold, wet and have a killer head ache. Not to mention,' she held up her battered copy of her book, now completely saturated and ripped, 'my favourite book is ruined. So, no, I don't think it's funny Potter. Even if you got your head out of your arse and apologised, I wouldn't think it was funny.' As Lily spoke her voice got louder and louder, and her face became bright red in anger.

'Wait,' said James incredulously, 'you expect me to _apologise_? You think I meant for that to happen? That I just thought, 'oh you know what would make this day more fun? A snowstorm?!''

'Whether or not you meant it to happen is irrelevant, what matters is that it was _your fault.'_

'Oh, so it's my fault that I tripped over?'

'Yes! You shouldn't have tried to bring that bloody thing over in the first place!'

'Well,' seethed James, who was beginning to match Lily in anger, 'I wouldn't have tried to bring it over to you if you weren't completely ignoring me.'

'Are you saying,' said Lily, her voice low and completely disbelieving, 'that it's my fault because you didn't get enough _attention_? You pigheaded, egotistical _arse-wipe_.'

Lily was sure that she was twenty-eight different shades of red right now, but she didn't care. She couldn't believe that Potter had the gall to insinuate that it was _her_ fault that the blizzard had been started, simply because she was reading a book rather than paying attention to the child in front of her.

James opened his mouth to retort to her insults, but before he could say a word, there was a loud _BANG_ as the trapdoor behind Lily was flung open.

'Petrificus Totalus!' Remus shouted. Lily watched with dark satisfaction as James' appendages snapped together, and he fell heavily onto the door behind him before sliding to the floor.

She turned to Remus, beaming. 'Thanks for that.'

'My pleasure,' he replied, grinning. 'I've wanted to do that for years,' he said, ignoring James frustrated grunt from behind them. 'You guys were yelling so loud you made it quite easy to find you, and I thought you might appreciate the help. Now, let me clock in.' Remus walked over so that he was closer to her than James was, effectively making the bands heat up and clocking in. 'What were you fighting about?' he asked curiously as Lily bent down to pick up her stuff. 'And why are you all wet?'

Lily stood and walked towards the trapdoor, not giving a second glance to the boy lying on the floor behind her. 'Oh, it's nothing. Nothing worth repeating anyway. Come on Remus, let's leave James here for someone to find him.' And with that she climbed down the stairs.

 **Oooooo! James and Lily being friends, James and Lily arguing, James and Lily being James and Lily** **Also do you believe Dorcas? Is Ralph our snitch? And if so, who do you think he is working for?**


End file.
